Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Stephen Hadley announced today the appointment of Elliott Abrams as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy, and that Faryar Shirzad will continue to serve in an expanded role as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs.

In his capacity as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy, Mr. Abrams will assist Mr. Hadley in work on the promotion of democracy and human rights, and will provide oversight to the NSC’s directorate of Democracy, Human Rights, and International Organization Affairs and its directorate of Near East and North African Affairs. Working with Secretary Rice and Mr. Hadley, he will maintain his involvement in Israeli/Palestinian affairs.

Elliott Abrams has served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs since December 2002. Prior to holding that position, he was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and International Operations. He was a member and then Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 1999 to 2001, and President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center from 1996 to 2001. Mr. Abrams served as an Assistant Secretary of State during the Reagan Administration from 1981 to 1989.

Now let’s jump to a much more in depth assessment of the ultimate man behind the scenes:

In one of the many oddities of the Christian Right-neoconservative alliance that bolsters the Republican Party and forms a backbone of the Bush II administration, many neocon government officials are radical separatists, indeed segregationists. As Elliott Abrams, who argues against Jews dating or attending elementary schools with non-Jews, puts it: “Outside the land of Israel, there can be no doubt that Jews, faithful to the covenant between God and Abraham, are to stand apart from the nation in which they live. It is the very nature of being Jewish to be apart—except in Israel—from the rest of the population.”

Judaism, according to Abrams, demands “apartness”—not in the sense of confining oneself to a physical ghetto, but all necessary measures should be taken to prevent “prolonged and intimate exposure to non-Jewish culture.” Abrams takes care to insist that his positions imply no “disloyalty” to the United States, but at the same times insists that Jews must be loyal to Israel because they “are in a permanent covenant with God and with the land of Israel and its people. Their commitment will not weaken if the Israeli government pursues unpopular policies.”(29) In his controversial book, Faith and Fear: How Jews Can Survive in Christian America, Abrams describes himself as a “somewhat observant Conservative Jew.”

Abrams has written various books, including Undue Process,Security and Sacrifice, and Faith or Fear: How Jews Can Survive in a Christian America. He has also contributed articles to Commentary, the Weekly Standard, the National Interest, the Public Interest, and the National Review.